Coded envelope to facilitate sorting



Dec. 25, 1956 L. PASTON CODED .ENVELOPE TO FACILITATE SORTING Filed Aug. 18, 1955 NAME ADDRESS Affi/WYE? United States Patent() coDED ENvELoPE To FACILITATE soRTING Louis Paston, New York, N. Y.

Application August 18, 1953, Serial No. 374,954

1 claim. (cl. 23S-61.12)

The present invent-ion relates generally to mailing envelopes and postal cards, and, more particularly, to envelopes and cards bearing coded indicia to facilitate sorting thereof by automatic machinery.

iIn modern mass-scale advertising practice, it is customary for .large organizations yand firms to mail promoltional literature for a `given product or service to every individual named on a selected mailing list of prospects, 4and to enclose in each letter a self-addressed and stamped return envelope or post card. The recipient of the letter is usually urged to reply by filling out va simple form and to return the completed form in the enclosed envelope. For example, in a campaign to increase the circulation of a magazine, a soliciting letter may Abe mailed to many thousands of potential subscribers in various parts of the country. Included with the letter is a self-addressed post card to -be filled out and signed .by the new subscriber in order to place his order. Circular letters of this type constitute a substantial portion of the daily mail in many lhomes. The response to .such circularfletters frequently results in a iiood of return letters or cards which are first received at local post oiiices throughout the country :where they must be sorted according to state and city, for transmission to the appropriate postal district in the locale of the addressee. Such sorting is performed manually by postal clerks, who must handle each letter separately in order to read the address. This sorting operation, by reason of the huge quantity of mail involved, is time consuming and costly. Moreover, manual sorting is inefficient and many letters are misdirected so that their ultimate delivery to the proper destination may be unduly delayed.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a mailing envelope or post card bearing coded indicia adapted to facilitate mechanical sorting by automatic machinery.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a mailing envelope lor card having printed thereon a code lield constituted :by a series of rows or columns of blank marked-off areas in the configura-tion of squares or circl-es. The marked-oil areas are, in se- 'lected instances, darkened or perforated in accordance with a given code representing, for example, the city and zone of the addressee.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an envelope having a relatively still end portion on which lis imprinted a code field constituted lby rows of columns of circles or squares. -In .a preferred embodiment of the invention, the stiiencd portion is formed by past-ing together the front and back sheets of the envelope.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide ian envelope having on one stiifened end port-ion thereof a series of columns providing a coded indicia of the city and zone of the addressee, the envelope also having printed Ithereon the complete address of the addressee to facilitate sorting and routin-g of the letter.

Also an object of the invention is to provide a post card on which the complete address of the addressee is in eodui :form to facilitate the automatic sorting and routring of the card.

For 4urther comprehension of the invention, and of the objects Iand advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which ithe various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig 1 is fa front view of a coded envelope in accord- -ance with a irst preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig 2 is a sectional view taken along lines 2 2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a iront view `of a coded envelope in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 4 -is a iront view of a coded post card in accordance ywith a third embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 5 separately shows `a stiiening element for an envelope.

Referring now to the draw-ings and, more particularly, to Fig. 1, there is shown a 'business reply envelope 10, in accordance with .the invention, having imprinted thereon at the upper `left-hand corner, three spaced parallel lines 111 to Ibe iilled in Iby the `addressor with his name `and address, the central portion 112 of the envelope having the name and address of the addressee imprinted thereon. At the right-hand end portion of the envelope is imprinted below the customary stamp or mailing permit 13, a lrectangular code Afield v14. T-he code field l14 is constituted lby three parallel vertical columns 15, y16 and .17 of marked-off larea-s in the form of oblong circles, each column consist-ing `of ten spaced circles. Adjacent the lett side at each circle is a digit, `the circles in each column `being -numbered successively l-2-3-4-5-6-7H8-9-0 from the 4bottom up.

In order to stillen the right-hand end portion of the paper envelope which includes the code iield 14, as shown in Fig. 2 the front sheet 18 and the rear sheet -19 `of the envelope yat the right-hand `end portion, are pasted or glued together iby an adhesive layer 20 to produce `a relatively rigid -strip 0n which the code iield is imprinted. lLf preferred, flor .additional stiiening, a relatively rigid rectangular paper card, such as card 33 shown lin Fig. 5, may be inserted Ibetween `sheets 1i8 and '1'9 and glued therebetween. As -a urther modification, card 33 may be glued `only to sheet 18 so as to permit the =fvull interior use of the envelope.

'Ilhe envelope having the code eld is .intended to |be used in conjunction with an automatic ysorting machine of the type disclosed, for example, in the patent to Ayres et al., 2,056,382, issued October 6, 193 6, in which a code cld is adapted to be analyzed by a machine having light sensitive elements and the envelope is sorted in accordance Iwith the code markings. For this purpose, `selected. blank circles are darkened with ink or lblack pencil. 'Ilhe darkening of the circles may, 4of course, be printed in. The iie'ld is analyzed by a llight scanning device, and sorting element-s are controlled in accordance with the combination of spots marked upon the envelope.

`In practice, column 15 may be reserved fora code signifying the city for which the letter is destined, and columns -16 and 17 may be reserved yfor the zone in the city. Let Ius assume, for example, that in accordance with a prearranged code, number l designates Washington, D. C.; number 2, New York city; number l3, Boston, etc. In Fig. l it will be seen that in column l1'5, circle 2 is darkened; .in column 16, circle l is darkened; and in column 17, circle `6 is darkened. This code comlbination, therefore, designates New York, zone 16. Thus, at any Agiven post oce, when envelopes of the type shown in Fig. 1 are run through the machine, all envelopes bear ing the code 2-1-6 will be segregated from all other envelopes `for delivery to the postal district for the indicated New York zone. At that point the Vaddress will 'be read for delivery to the exact destination.

The machine may also 'be .adapted `to cancel the `attached Stamp on the envelope las well as performing a sorting operation. While only three lcode col-umns have been shown, it is to -be understood that `a greater number vmay be used `for more selective sorting of the mail. Thus a special permit may be granted to a given iirrn having mail orders in bulk quantities, the permit assigning, for instance, the code numlber for the iirm. Two yadditional columns -may be provided for this code number ywhereby the machine will sort out the appropriatelycoded mail for delivery directly to the rm. It is to be understood that any standard .size envelopel may be yused for thi-s purpose, only one end portion of the envelope being stilened 4for .purposes of carrying a code'iield thereon.

In lieu of a code iield wherein the marked-off areas are darkened, a code eld may be used in which the marked-olf areas lare punched out or perforated in accordance `wit-h a prearranged code. Thus in lthe moditied envelope shown in Fig. 3, a code field 21 is formed `at the right-hand end of the envelope 22 below'the stamp. The code lield 21 is imprinted on a stitfened strip in the manner described in connection with Pigs. 1 `and 2.

Code lfield 21 is constituted iby three vertical columns 2'3, 24 and l25, of spaced rectangular Amarked-off areas, each column including ten such areas, each area having a digit adjacent thereto. By punohing-out a selected yarea in each column, -a code formed by openings or windows is produced. Thus the selected digit in column 23 may represent the city and that in columns 24 and 25y the Zone. For the purpose of sorting out such envelopes, an automatic machine of the 4type described inthe patent to Maul, 2,209,414, issued July 30, 1945,l or ya machine of the type described in the patent to Ford, 1,633,93 6, issued June '28, 1927, may be utilized, in which the code field is analyzed by sensing brushes extending through the windows in the ifield.

The full address of the addressee may be expressed solely in the 'form of code indicia. 'Ilhus in Fig. 4, a post card 26 is provided having a rectangular iield 27 providing code indicia for the full address. The code indicia are dened -by parallel horizontal rows of oblong marked-off areas 28 to 32. Rows 28 and 29 may be used Ito indicate the firm4 name by `a designated code number, row 30 may be reserved for the code designation for the city, and rows 31 and 32 may be reserved for the zone. llnasmuch as the post card is genenally made of relatively stiff material, additional stiifening is ordinarily not essential.`

While I have illustrated `and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to 'all changes and modifications coming Within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim Ias new, and desire 'to secure by United States Letters Pat- -ent 1s:

A :business reply envelope, comprising rectangular front and rear paper sheets, an adhesive layer secured to one end portion of one of said .sheets at the inner side thereof to .form a relatively stiifened strip portion, and a rectangular card inserted between said sheets and secured to said adhesive layer to reinforce said stiiened portion, said card Ibeing unattached to the other of said sheets .so that the entire interior of the envelope defined by saidv sheets` is open `and available for use, said one sheet bearing coded marks at the exterior thereof along said -stiiened portion, said marks lbeing scannable by photo- 4Sensitiveme-ans.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 23,385 Knutsen July 3, 19511 2,185,696 Tomkinson Jan. 2, 1940 2,195,860 George et al. Apr. 2, 1940 2,357,444y Armbruster Sept. 5, 1944 2,459,263 Callanan Jan. 18, 1949 2,650,024 Ferrin Arug. 25, 195'3 2,675,170 Sebesta Apr. 13, 1954 `2,690,301 Wilson Sept. 28, 4 2,709,001 IStahl May 24, 1955 2,742,222 Braccio Apr. 17, 1956 

